[RE-wrenches] warranty liabilities

[R Ray Walters]

Nick;

How many of the failures are polycrystalline vs. mono?
Both Solarex (then later BP) had failures of their poly stuff, are those the ones you are referring too?
Photowatt comes to mind....
I've had my best luck though with the Made in USA monocrystalline.

R. Walters
ray at solarray.com
Solar Engineer




On Nov 1, 2010, at 12:58 PM, Nick Soleil wrote:

> Marco and Bob:
>     I have replaced more than 70 bad US made modules, so I wouldn't jump right into stereotyping modules by the country.  These warranty claims are time consuming, distracting, and can be costly.  The amounts paid by the manufacturers of inverters and modules help cover the costs, but rarely cover all of our expenses.  
>     There are weeks that I spend half my time dealing with warranty issues. This is virtually all from product failures.  I am finding that many modules are failing at 4+ years old.
>  
> Nick Soleil
> Project Manager
> Advanced Alternative Energy Solutions, LLC
> PO Box 657
> Petaluma, CA 94953
> Cell: 707-321-2937
> Office: 707-789-9537
> Fax: 707-769-9037
> 
> 
> From: Bob-O Schultze <bob-o at electronconnection.com>
> To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> Sent: Mon, November 1, 2010 10:56:44 AM
> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] warranty liabilities
> 
> Marco,
> The only things on a battery-less PV system that carry a warranty are the modules and the inverter. The rest is pretty much on the installer to do a good job. Unless you are using 3C (Cheap Chinese Crap) modules, the probability of a failure is very small. Personally, I use an inverter which not only carries a 10 year warranty but the company will compensate me fairly for service calls where the inverter is at fault.
> Bob-O
> 
> On Oct 31, 2010, at 4:32 PM, Marco Mangelsdorf wrote:
> 
> In places like California, and other states as well I’m sure, a PV integrator needs to provide a bumper-to-bumper system warranty of what? 10 years.
>  
> I’d like to know if many, or any, of you all put aside any money to cover your future warranty liabilities.  (I don’t.)
>  
> My belief is that we as an industry—at least as far as the large majority of us who are independent small companies—don’t have a clue when it comes to calculating what our present and future exposure is as far as warranty liability issues.
>  
> Having gone through the boom and bust of the solar thermal business in CA. in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were tons and tons of orphan systems that had been supposedly covered by warranties by companies that were long gone.  Makes we wonder how close or far we are these days to a similar situation…
>  
> marco
>  
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